Homicide trial set in Katrina deaths

ST. FRANCISVILLE, La. -- The owners of a nursing home where 35 patients died amid flash flooding during Hurricane Katrina are set to stand trial today on negligent homicide charges.

A torrent of water poured through ruptured levees, filling the one-storey St. Rita's Nursing Home almost to the ceiling in about 20 minutes after the storm roared ashore on Aug. 29, 2005.

Salvador and Mabel Mangano are the only individuals charged with the responsibility of deaths from the storm. More than 1,400 deaths were blamed on Katrina.

Prosecutors charge the Manganos' decision not to evacuate St. Rita's residents before the storm was a criminal act. The Manganos face 35 counts of negligent homicide and 24 counts of cruelty to the elderly or infirm.

The combined maximum sentence for each defendant would be 415 years in prison. The trial is expected to last at least three weeks.

The defence contends that because of government negligence, including faulty levees that broke during Katrina, the Manganos could not have known about the potential for flooding.

MANDATORY ORDER

A mandatory evacuation order was issued the day before Katrina hit as meteorologists predicted a 6.4-metre storm surge would hit St. Bernard. Of five nursing homes in the parish, only St. Rita's was not evacuated.

Speaking before a judge imposed a gag order, defence lawyer Jim Cobb said state law did not require nursing homes to comply with mandatory evacuation orders. A report by the Louisiana Nursing Home Association, a trade group, showed 36 of 57 nursing homes in the New Orleans area were not evacuated.

The Manganos said the area had never flooded in the 20 years St. Rita's was in operation, and Cobb said that was the basis for their decision to ride out the storm.

"We're talking frail people, people with special needs, people who would be at risk during an evacuation," Cobb said. "The Manganos thought they were saving lives by sheltering in place."

The couple, in their 60s, were so certain St. Rita's was safe that they invited relatives, staffers and others to shelter there. About 30 people, including the Manganos' children, accepted the offer, the Manganos say.

No one other than patients died at St. Rita's.

The Manganos and staff rescued about 28 patients, floating some out through windows to safety. It was 10 days before the victims' bodies could be removed.

At least 34 people died at Memorial Medical Center in Uptown New Orleans after the hurricane, but three women arrested by the attorney general's office will not stand trial.

A grand jury refused to indict Dr. Anna Pou and charges against nurses Lori Budo and Cheri Landry were dropped.